The semiconductor industry has a need to access many electronic devices on a semiconductor wafer. As the semiconductor industry grows and devices become more complex, many electrical devices, most commonly semiconductor devices, must be electrically tested, for example, for leakage currents and extremely low operating currents. These currents are often below 100 fA. In addition, the currents and device characteristics are often required to be evaluated over a wide temperature range to understand how temperature affects a device.
Also, the electronic devices are often placed on wafers in different locations due to different die sizes. Additionally, due to the wide variety of die pitches (referring to the spacing between adjacent devices on a die/wafer or the corresponding spacing between adjacent probe tiles on a probe tile plate (or sometimes referred to as “base plate”), users need the flexibility of reusing the probe tiles in various base plates. The size of a die pitch may vary, for example, from 10 mm2 to 30 mm2, etc. Further, the shape of a die pitch may vary as well, for example, a rectangular shape, a square shape, etc. At present, semiconductor testing equipment is designed such that a user has to use different probe tiles if the size or shape of die pitches on a die/wafer is different.
Accordingly, to effectively measure these devices, there is a need for a compact, probe apparatus having a plurality of probe tiles for probing devices whereby the probe tiles can be mounted in a new location and provides new versatility and capability. Further, there is a need for improved semiconductor testing equipment for electrically probing semiconductor devices at low currents, over a wide temperature range.